Hi all! So, I have to start by letting you know I do not own a single detail associated with Supernatural. I do, however, own all the details about Kate. So, this chapter takes place in-between episodes, I figured there's probably a couple of weeks in between S2x2 and S2x3, given that at the start of Blood lust, the impala is completely decked out and like new again.

Thank you all for taking the time to read, especially those who review. Enjoy!

Chapter 12: Family Doesn't End with Blood

Kate awoke with a start. She wasn't able to move, nor did she recognize her surroundings. Her arms had been tied down to a chair. A rope encircled her entire mid-section, pinning her to the back of a plastic chair. Each leg had a rope wrapped around it several times tying her down to the metal frame, so there was no moving about for Kate. A noise sounded from low in her throat as her head thrashed in search of her surroundings; for any sign of life, but she was all alone. Kate fought to break the ropes but figured it would be pointless to keep trying. She was starting to hate being so defenseless in this world. Especially with her ability to know everything that was coming. She knew she had a huge target on her back, but this was getting ridiculous. She made a mental note to get some physical training in ASAP.

The room she was in was dark and at near freezing temperatures. Kate could assume she'd been here for a bit given that her exposed skin was so cold it was beginning to hurt. Glancing around she saw shelves full of half-prepped food, lemons, and boxes undoubtedly filled with other things. She put together that she was being held captive in a walk-in fridge. Kate groaned as she tried to break the ropes again to no avail, "Damnit." She sighed.

Kate's ears caught sounds on the outside of the fridge, she could hear a low voice, but she couldn't make out what it was saying exactly. Kate remained still trying to control her breathing, she figured the less noise she made, the easier it would be to make out the voices. She had to try and fight her body's instinct to shiver, she was quickly becoming very aware of the clothes she'd been wearing before waking up here. Her bare arms had long broken out in goosebumps. Kate heard footsteps over the metal ramp in front of the cooler door.

She watched as light poured in from the doorway and a slim figure stood staring in at her. Kate recognized the face immediately. "No," She muttered softly, her mind going back a few weeks to Colorado. "Gina," She greeted, her voice shocked.

"Not right now." She heard Gina's voice answer as her eyes flashed black. "So, Katie. How 'ya been? Long time, no talk." Kate just stared feeling a rage build up within her. She didn't realize it then, but by reaching out to Gina she had put her at risk. Especially leaving her there to deal with the demon that night. It wasn't smart of Kate not to see to it that the demon was exorcised. It was straight-up sloppy hunting, and it was biting her in the ass now.

"She has nothing to do with this whole situation," Kate stated, her teeth beginning to chatter on their own.

"What's the matter, darlin'? You cold?" Gina's voice asked as she circled to stand at Kate's back.

Kate just gritted her teeth trying to hide it, she was unsuccessful though. "Oh? Nothing to say? That's fine. I planned on doing all the talking anyway." The demon in Gina's body seemed to enjoy hearing itself talk, Kate jumped as the chair she was in tilted back suddenly and felt herself being pushed forwards out of the fridge.

Kate felt herself back on solid ground again quickly and took another look around her. She was in a bar, "Where are we?" Kate asked now.

"Don't worry, I didn't take ya' far if that's what the hubbub is about. We're still in good 'ole South Dakota. We're waitin' on your boys to get here, I shot your buddy, Dean a call earlier. Thanks for lettin' me borrow your cell." Gina replied the grin over her feature looked maniacal. Kate felt her fear spike as Gina placed her phone down on the bar counter and walked around to the back of the bar. "Ya know, I gotta say. I've never possessed a psychic before. It's bizarre." As the demon spoke it pulled alcohol out from under the bar. Kate didn't respond. She was upset with herself for getting Gina dragged into all of this. She should have known how demons operate. She knew Sam and Dean were too good to get the drop on, too skilled to be used against her.

She'd only known Gina for a bit that night, but she was so incredibly grateful that the woman helped her. "I suppose we oughta warm you back up. You'd been in the walk-in for a while. An hour? Maybe an hour and a half?" The demon walked over and offered the bottle to Kate, who'd adamantly refused. "I can see you shivering." The demon pointed out obviously. Kate was now internally thanking Bobby for getting more of the anti-possession talismans. The one he'd given her was hanging around her neck right now. He'd supplied them to her and the boys after the accident, but Kate had made the recommendation for the guys to get them tattooed permanently on them. "Fine then. Get hypothermia. No skin off my nose." The demon said now tilting the bottle back and swallowing a gulp.

"You know, it's funny, I may not know all that you do about what's comin', but this lady has some real psychic juice in her. One touch of your hand and she knew all sorts of information about you. I probably know more about you than you do right now." The demon chuckled out the last part with a head shake before downing another gulp of the clear alcohol. "Your brain is all scattered around up there, isn't it?" the demon asked. She chose to ignore it, and not respond.

"What did you mean 'waiting on my boys'?" Kate asked slowly. She had an inkling as to what the demon was referring to, but she just couldn't believe it. She had the sinking feeling that she knew what was occurring. Regardless of how useful her insight into the future was to the demons. what Azazel really needed was the Colt. No gun meant no way to open the gates to hell.

"We wanna trade you, obviously." The demon laughed out. Kate could feel her fear rising as Gina came closer. "The plan is to trade you for the gun and all, but I suppose there's no harm in seeing just how much you know, is there?" The demon seemed to be talking more to itself than Kate. She could feel the demon's eyes staring hard at her as she stared at the floor. She suddenly felt Gina's small, thin hands move her hair out of her face, and grip her chin roughly while tilting her head upwards to meet her gaze.

"So, girly. How much of our plan are you fine-tuned into?"

Kate didn't say anything, she just stared into those black eyes, with her mouth open. Before she could say anything she felt the fingers tighten their hold on her chin, the grip she was in was painful. Kate tried to contain her discomfort, but the demon's grasp continued tightening, steadily growing harder, and harder. "Mmph," Kate tried to pull her face away but was unsuccessful. Gina's other hand gripped the hair at the back of her head suddenly as the demon's black eyes continued to bore into her own.

"Damnit," She heard Gina mutter as Kate was finally released. She quickly realized the demon was probably trying to tap into Gina's psychic powers to get whatever information he wanted. "So much for doing it the easy way." She heard the demon huff out before Kate felt a stinging in her face. It took her a second to catch her bearings and realize that the demon within Gina had hit her.

"You're gonna tell me what you know, exactly."

"Oh yeah? Why's that? Otherwise, you'll hurt me?" Kate asked, her lip had split, and she could feel the right side of her jaw throbbing with pain. She chuckled harshly as she came to the realization aloud, "You can't kill me, then you'd have nothing to trade."

"You little shit," The demon said a slow smirk spreading over Gina's lips. She watched as Gina grabbed up the bottle of alcohol from the bar and smash it, shattering the end. Kate's heartbeat skyrocketed as she took in the sharp end. The demon was on her before she could blink, "Of course, you're right, I can't kill you, but there weren't any orders about delivering you back you the Winchester's in one piece." Kate screamed as she felt the shards of the glass bottle slam into her left hand. Her hand felt white hot heat as the shards dug into her skin.

"How 'bout now? Feel like talking yet?" Kate glanced up to see Gina's face alight with a sickeningly gleeful facial expression. Kate could see Gina's lips twisting up into a smile that seemed dark, and scary. Kate was left gasping to try and overcome the pain. She fought to slow her breathing, she had been working on meditation the last few days at Bobby's so she'd been practicing with breathwork, trying to do as the real Gina had suggested in unblocking her sixth chakra. It had been working over the last few days, her brain was beginning to remember her life back home. Just little things, like the college she attended, and her dorm room with her roommate. Things that she'd seen and interacted with daily. So, Kate closed her eyes and thought about her breathing. She was hoping for something to come to her, anything as a way to get out of her predicament.

"Oh no, you don't girly." Kate felt the demon begin twisting the bottle that had been slammed down on the back of her hand. Kate gritted her teeth and groaned as the pain doubled. Kate's hand felt slick from the blood, her fingers were relaxing of their own accord, and a growing tingle was steadily going up her arm. It registered in her brain that she was losing a good amount of blood. "What do you know about Azazel?!"

Kate fought to block out not only the pain but Gina's voice. She gasped as an image came to her, it was hard to tell what everything was because it flashed before her so quickly, but she recognized the car. It was the Impala pulling up outside a bar called the Monk's Ale House. She let out a breath as she was pulled out of her head and back into the chair she was tied to. Help's on the way. Kate thought, Just have to keep her talking. The demon had let go of the broken bottle, and it fell to the floor with an audible 'clink'. She stared up at Ginas' face trying to remain as stoic as possible, but it was difficult with the pain in her throbbing hand.

"How did you know I was at Bobby's?" She asked suddenly. She noticed in the last few minutes that the demon inhabiting Gina's body seemed to enjoy talking, so she'd hoped to stall for some time for the cavalry to arrive. Kate worked at calming her heartbeat, as well as her nerves. She knew she was in an awful situation, but it seemed to be par for the course in this universe.

The laugh that Gina let out was a harsh, short one, as she pulled back now grabbing another bottle of clear alcohol off the bar. "It's what I do, darlin'." Kate watched as the demon took a swig from the handle of tequila, "Why do you think I was able to follow you from Colorado? Our pal Azazel knows what I do best." At Kate's lack of response, the demon sighed as if she were missing something obvious, "I'm a tracker demon."

"Tracker demon?" Kate echoed. She wracked her brain to try and remember that kind of demon being mentioned in the show, but she couldn't pinpoint it.

"Did being in the fridge that long cause some damage to your brain?" She heard Gina ask, but Kate ignore it. "Maybe it was already there, to begin with... After all, can't be all that sane if you did a stint in the psych ward back home..."

Kate paused her eyes locking on Gina's pitch black ones. The demon had known more than she thought, "How-?"

Gina's hand moved to tap at her temple, "Told you. I'm possessing a psychic. She knows quite a bit more about you than she let on that night." Kate heard a dark chuckle and then the scraping of a chair. Gina swung her leg over the backward chair and leaned forwards with a giant psycho grin over her features, her eyes were alight with glee.

"Your dad dying was a shock to you, but to break like that..." The demon trailed off sucking in a breath. "Your mama must've been a tough old broad to last so long before tossing your-."

"You know nothing." Kate hissed out slowly through her teeth. In her rage that flared up, she leaned forwards as far as the ropes would allow. "About my family, or me."

The demon laughed out loudly now, "Well now, finally." Gina jumped up quickly, "Something that gets you outta your shell."

Kate leaned back tiredly in her chair, she noted that her hand was still gushing blood, there were still pieces of glass stuck in her right hand. She could still faintly move her fingers, but she was scared to in fear of ripping or tearing any ligaments or tendons. "So, I'm only going to ask one more time before I decide to summon someone up here that knows how to tear the information out of you, bit by bit," Gina said as she moved in closer. "What do you know about Azazel or his grand slam plan?"

Kate kept silent, thinking about what she could say, "I know it's not going to work." She muttered back so quietly that she almost didn't think she'd said it aloud. "I know that he's going to die, not today, or even tomorrow, but he dies before his plan is complete, and people move on, they forget about him, about the plan. Everything it stood for."

"Oh really?" The demon asked, Kate could see a change over her features, her expression steadily grew darker.

"Oh yeah, your god, the one that you are all desperate to worship. He's not a particular fan of demons, they're nothing to him. Less than nothing. You aren't even worth the energy he'd spend to smite you all."

"You shut your mouth-." Kate saw Gina move at inhumane speeds and she was next to her within a blink of an eye. Kate felt another punch to her jaw, she grunted at the impact, her head twisting. She knew that side of her face would be swollen if not bruised tomorrow.

"Hey! That's Enough." Kate's eyes flickered towards the front door, where a tall familiar figure stepped in. Sam stood tall at the entrance to the bar, Dean, right behind him. They wore their typical attire, looking ever slightly more badass than Kate had remembered them to be as they pulled off arriving just in time to save her.

"Well, well, better late than never, huh boys?" Gina asked as she turned to stare at the boys, "Did ya bring it?"

Dean swiftly pulled out the Colt and held it upright. "You mean this thing? Yeah, we brought it." As he spoke he took another step closer, "How d'you know we won't use it on you?" As he asked he cocked back the trigger and aimed it right at Gina.

"I'm fairly certain that gun gets used on someone else," Gina replied as she practically glided back towards the bar and took another swig of tequila. "Drink?"

"Nah, 'fraid we don't break bread with demons," Dean responded scathingly.

"Kate? You okay?" She heard Sam ask from across the room. Kate nodded breathing deeply, her eyes closing lightly to help her focus through the pain.

"My hand is injured, but that's it." She told them aloud.

"You son of a bitch." Kate heard Dean's voice mutter, his eyes moved over the blood dripping down left side of the chair from Kate's injured hand. He took a step in closer.

"No, no, no, sorry. I'm gonna need the gun if you're to get any closer." Kate pulled her head upright to look across the bar room. She saw Gina standing between her and Sam and Dean.

"The only way you're getting this gun is over my dead body," Kate heard Dean say.

"Oh now, darling, that can be arranged," Gina smirked ever so slightly, her gaze never faltering on the two men before her.

"Ready Sam?" Dean's voice asked. She watched as he slid the Colt back within the waist of his jeans and he pulled a sawed-off out of his duffel. Rock salt. Kate assumed.

Sam began chanting the exorcism rites as Dean moved quickly to attack Gina. "Dean, wait-!" Kate wanted to spare Gina's life, but he didn't hear her as he began facing off with the demon. Kate felt hands at her back and she yelped in fear twisting her head around to get a look at who was there. She was pleasantly surprised by Bobby. "Bobby?" She asked, her voice hollow with shock. He must have snuck in through the back door.

"You didn't think we'd just leave you on your own, did you kid?" He asked her gruffly as he made quick work of her ropes with his knife. Kate could feel her blood flow returning to her outer extremities, which mean if she didn't get her hand wrapped up she knew blood would be everywhere. Again. Kate looked over her right hand as she tried to follow Bobby's lead and move away from the fighting, but she quickly found herself slammed into a nearby wall. The demon had flung her and Bobby into it roughly. The book Sam had been reading from was thrown carelessly across the bar room Kate gathered that the boys hadn't quite memorized their exorcism rites just yet.

"Nah, ah, ah. This is not how trading works, boys." Gina glanced around to see the fighting stop. "You'll get the girl, once I get that gun." Dean didn't move, he just glared at Gina now, hard.

"Well, you ain't gettin' this gun." He growled.

"Hm, alright then." Gina shrugged. In a split second, She had to gnash her teeth together in an effort to prevent from crying out, but Kate felt the pain instantly. She didn't want to give the demon any satisfaction. She could feel the different shards of glass moving within her hand as they dug in deeper, and drew themselves up her arm. She screamed feeling the glass slice through her flesh like softened butter. "You wanna keep playing this game? She has another arm, right? It's not as if people can't get by with the use of just one these days." Kate took in gulping breaths as the pain subsided. She glanced in their direction, Sam looked at her, worry was clear over his features while Dean looked determined.

"Just hand over the gun, Dean. No one else has to get hurt."

"Who the hell are you?" Dean snapped back, Kate could see that whatever plan they had come up with was now out the window, or maybe they hadn't even come up with a plan. Dean wasn't always known for planning things out methodically, and with the way she'd left him in the scrapyard earlier, it wouldn't surprise her if he flew off the deep end without any logical thinking.

Gina chuckled, "Names Merrick. Azazel's number two man. Hence why I'm here for the Colt." Kate could feel a sense of Deja vu at hearing the demon's real name, but she put it on the back burner for now. Given the earlier reaction that Kate had gotten from him when calling Lucifer into question, she assumed this demon to be one of those groupies that rallied around the plot to raise the devil.

Kate suddenly slid down the wall landing on her ass. She glanced behind her at the wall and found her blood smeared over it. She glanced over at Bobby who was near enough to see what she was doing. She rolled over and began using her blood to draw a devil's trap over the floor. She half paid attention to what Dean and the demon were saying to one another. She was too focused on recalling the trap from memory. Bobby managed to crawl over and quickly begin helping, using some of the blood from the wall to get the job done. She and Bobby were almost done with it when Kate was dragged away. Her hand accidentally smeared the sigil she'd been working on over the hardwood floors. She saw Bobby seeming to be pushed against the floor, unable to lift a finger to finish the trap. Pinned there by this Merrick demon.

Gina was on Kate instantly, barely bothering to spare a glance at Bobby. She grabbed Kate's good arm and yanked her up from the floor. "Careful, Winchester. I might just be done with all this and kill her right now."

Dean paused suddenly. Kate saw that he'd picked up his shotgun, and Sam now had a knife and flask out and at the ready. She was fairly certain it contained holy water. A pause passed through the room. "No, I don't think so." Dean began, his voice low and threatening. "You do that, and you ain't getting outta here. I'll make sure to leave you in pieces."

"Careful now." Kate watched as a rather big glass shard was waved in her face, "You wouldn't want to injure your girlfriend's psychic sidekick." She could hear the sneer on Gina's face. Sam seemed to glance in Dean's direction his face scrunched up in confusion, but Kate could have sworn she saw something else flash over his face right before he focused back on the demon. it happened so fast that she couldn't place it though. "Why don't you tell 'em, Kate? Tell them about the skinny little meat suit I'm wearing."

"Gina has nothing to do with this. Don't- don't hurt her." Kate stated.

"Gina? Who the hell is 'Gina'?" Dean questioned aloud as Sam moved closer in from behind him, Gina pulled Kate a step back with her in response. He was smartly maintaining his distance.

"Tell them," Gina stated as she slid the shard to her neck, Kate felt the coolness of the glass pressing into her skin.

"Remember back in Colorado?" Kate asked. "When I went to see that psychic? I went to see if she could help me figure out a way back home. Then the demon showed up at her place that night, and I- I thought she'd send it back to hell, but-."

Kate could tell that her leaving the demon alive, and still kicking around in a body was unheard of. She could see it on the guy's faces, to be fair she had been more focused on heading to Blue Earth to save Pastor Jim than to exorcise the demon from Gina's neighbor. Again, she wasn't trained in doing all the hunting the way most were.

"Well," Merrick smirked, "I'd hate to leave a party early, but if we're not getting anywhere here, I'll at least be able to bring the girl back to Azazel. Maybe with her, he won't even need the Colt." Kate figured he was bluffing, but she didn't want to test it. She'd didn't want to think about what Azazel himself would do to her, or worse, any of the other demons he had at his disposal. "He'd have a lot more fun with her than I would, you know."

"Alright. Alright, just-. Let's talk about this." Dean said as he lowered his shotgun. Sam still held onto the knife tightly.

"There's not much to talk about there, son. Just hand over the Colt and I'll let go of the girl."

"How do we know you're not lying?" Sam piped up from the back, "You're a demon. "

Kate could feel Gina's hold on her relaxing a bit as Merrick spoke. "That hurts, Sam. Especially from you." Kate stiffened at what was being hinted at, her eyes flicked to Dean to see if there was any connection there. Kate thought this Merrick guy was pretty ballsy for hinting at Sam's connection to the demons before it was well known.

"What does that mean?" Sam snapped, he'd moved in closer at those words. Merrick just smirked at him in response.

"I suppose you wouldn't know if I'm lying or not but are you all really willing to put her life at risk to call my bluff?" Kate felt her face tightening in pain as she could feel the glass cutting into the side of her neck. It was hard enough to draw blood, but not enough to cause any major damage. "Even if I take her with me to Azazel, do you all honestly believe he'll keep her alive after getting out of her what he wants? I don't think so. " He finished.

"Now, put the gun down, Dean. Nice and slow." Kate saw that Dean had taken the gun out from his jeans and was staring down at it in his two hands.

"Dean," Kate heard Sam call out. It was obvious to all of them that they hadn't wanted to give it up, but they were in a bit of a predicament. She knew Sam and Dean really couldn't risk her being taken by the demons, but the Colt was their only means of killing Azazel.

"We're getting this back. I don't care how, or what it takes but we are." Dean stated as he placed the gun by his feet on the floor. Kate knew he was right, but elected to keep that bit of information to herself at the moment. A struggle sounded from behind her, and she knew Bobby was still fighting to get up, but Merrick continued to hold him in place.

"Atta boy, soldier. Now, slide it over. Slowly."

"Let Kate go." Dean countered. Sam moved up next to Dean, he was at the ready to throw the holy water if need be. Kate heard Gina huff out an annoyed breath.

"Aw, don't trust me?" She said her voice feigning hurt.

"Now, damnit! Send her over and I'll kick the gun your way. You can skip on out of here. We won't fight you." Dean was not in the mood to play nice any longer. Before Kate could react she felt herself being thrown in the direction of the guys. She slammed into Dean roughly. Her bad arm hit the hard wall that was his body. She cried out in pain as she could still feel the glass embedded into her skin.

"Kate? Kate? You okay?" She heard Dean ask. His hands grasped her shoulders as he held her at arm's length to look her over.

She nodded as she turned around to see Bobby standing, now that he had been released from the demon's hold. They all looked towards the center of the bar to find the once demon-occupied space empty. The colt that had been at Dean's feet was gone, as was Gina.

Kate was seated on the couch, her left arm extended out as Bobby and Sam were still trying to pick all of the glass particles out of her arm. She was holding a handle of alcohol that Kate had insisted they grab. She was also adamant about not going back to the hospital. She'd been there twice in the last 2 weeks. If she'd gone again they'd probably assume she was in an abusive marriage.

"I still think you oughta get a doctor to check you out, ya know?" Sam said as he shined a small flashlight over her arm so Bobby could pinpoint the glass reflecting off the light.

"I'm not going back to the hospital for this. They'll only have a ton more questions. With my head it was reasonable. This?" As Kate said this she nodded towards her arm, "Is not reasonable. How would I explain how the glass became embedded in my skin?" Sam held up his free hand to fend her off.

Sam had been bothered by how easily Dean gave away the Colt. She'd heard them arguing about it once they got in the Impala, but she'd interrupted quietly from the backseat to let them know they'd be getting it back when they needed it when it was time to kill Azazel, in doing so she'd shut down the argument, for now. She knew the boys were still tense with each other about John, but for the time being, she seemed to be in the clear of any resentful feelings directed at her.

Bobby had kept her arm upright the whole short drive back to his house, it had made it so the bleeding lessened. Kate hissed as Bobby went a little too deep in digging out a grain of glass. She'd complained rather loudly on the drive that she may have had a shot at defending herself if one of the men had been more open to the idea of physically training her. Bobby objected, what with her recent head injury, but Sam and Dean had agreed with her. It was necessary.

"Will you hold still?!" Bobby said gruffly as he pulled her arm back to its original position. Kate let out an annoyed breath as she gulped down some of the whiskey. She was kind of surprised at how fatherly Bobby was towards her, she knew him to be a great father figure to the boys throughout the show, but she hadn't expected it to apply to her. She had assumed he would be a stand-offish old grouch. She was beginning to understand that for them, just as they say in the show. Family truly doesn't end with blood.

"Easy there, lightweight," Dean said as he slipped the bottle out of her good hand. He took up the other side of the couch sitting beside her as he also took a swig from the bottle. She sent him an annoyed look but didn't reply to his comment. "So, I got a question. How d'you know we get the Colt back? Is it something you've seen in your show? I always assumed Azazel was gonna destroy it given that it's the only thing that can kill him." Dean asked with an eyebrow raised. She wasn't sure if after their last conversation that he was trying to trust her more, but she could see the olive branch he was extending with his question and took it for what it was.

Kate shook her head, "Yes, and no." She answered becoming acutely aware of the suddenly slower pace Bobby was moving at, "Yes, it's the only thing that can kill him, but he needs it for his 'grand master plan'." Kate told him.

"And, what is that exactly?" Sam asked his gaze on her, his voice held that same dark edge as earlier when he'd been told that Azazel was a prince of hell.

Kate's uncertain eyes looked between Sam and Dean. She wasn't sure if they'd believe her, but she wanted to give them the truth, so she just said it as plainly as she could, "He uh-. He plans to open the gates of hell."

She was met with a shocked silence as the three men were too stunned to say anything in response.

Thanks all for reading! Your views are greatly appreciated! I have already started working on the next chapter so I'm hoping to get that up shortly!